, 1887-07-07
THE AcAplANs or LOUISIANA.
A People Who Have Been Little Changed
by Time-A Simple Life.

Back from that great highway, the
Mississippi, there are innumerable smaller
streams, called bayous in this section,
which f~ertilize an immense expanse of
prairie in western Louisiana. 1t is an
idyllic region; there are myriads of
tropical flowers spangling the beautiful
plains of Opelousas and Altakapas, whose
long grasses way and change color with
every passing breeze; the bayous and
little lakes CLEAN like silver in the sun
shine, their islands marked with huge
live oaks and venerable cypress trees
Enthusiastically garlanded with Spanish
moss. Multitudes of brilliant birds add
to the beauty of the scene; the quiet
bayous are often stirred by the swift
canoe of the sportsman in search of the
wild fowl with which this section
abounds. It is a land beloved of artist
and poet; it is the country of Longfel-
lows "Evangeline."
Along the numerous water courses
where steamboats, are never seen, where
railroads are unknown, the exiled Aca-
dams are found in all their primitive
simplicity, retaining almost unchanged
the language, manners, customs and
sIperstitions of the French peasants of
nearly two centuries ago. These pecu-
liar people were originally colonists from
Normandy, who settled in Nova Scotia,
but were driven thence, as every one
knows, by the prosecutions of the Eng
lish. A modern historian says of them:
1.-THE Acadians were the most interesting
French c~olonists in America, and no plea
of necessity could justify the cruelty of
tearing them away from their homes
and consigning them to wretchedness
and poverty"
Not for long, however, were they
doomed to ~wretchedness and poverty, for
in 1865 these exiles found their way to
Louisiana, where they made a fortunate
exchange in the sunny cline and fertile
plains they peopled for the bleak land
they had left behind them. A souvenir
of their former home, the province of
/ Acadie, has chung to them in their name,
A~cadians, but 'tCreoles Francois"
The Americans, and ever the Creoles,
have corrupted the name Acadian into
"Cajun," which term these people re-
sent strongly, yet as "Cajuns'' they are
known all over the state. They are, in
fact, Creoles, being the descendants of
French parents, born in a French colony,
but they are an entirely distinct people
from all other populations of Gallo
descent in Louisiana
They still retain marked characteristics
of their Norman origin, as unlike the
French people of more southern provinces
as if they were indeed of separate race.
Those Acadians who were of an upper
class have long been amalgamated
through intermarriage or association
with other Creoles of the state; but the
great body of these people have kept to
themselves, and are now, as we said be-
fore, as primitive in their ideas and GUS
toms as when they first set foot in the
New World, although many traits of tho
Norman peasantry, which they still
possess, have been modified by climate
and circumstances.
They have remained purely French
and without Spanish a~dmixture, as is the
case with other Creoles. They are an
Independent, hardy, athletic race, entire
ly content with their own lot in life,
being sufficient unto themselves and
having little interest in the outside world.
Their tastes are simple and nearly all
their wants are supplied from their own
industries. They are chiefly an agricul-
tural and stock raising population, and
for this reason the families-though each
from its w large proportions is a little
colony in itself-do not live very near
together, but are scattered broadcast
over the bosom of the prairies. 1t has
been questioned whether these people
would have retained their peculiar char
acteristics for such a length of time if
they had clustered in larger communi-
ties.
The French patois they speak, and
which they believe to be purest Partisan
French, is unlike any other Creole patois
in Louisiana and is wholly unmiXed with
negro dialect; for the Acadians were
never slave owners. They have ever
been a prolific race; but this circum-
stance does not, as in other peoples, force
the young birds to leave the parent nest
when old enough to seek their own liveli-
hood. On the contrary, the Acadians
are prepared to make any sacrifice in
order to keep their children near them;
the paternal acres are divided and sub
divided into smaller farms, and every
child and grandchild receives q share as
soon as he has reached the age to settle
down and make a home for himself.
The young people are also encouraged
to marry early, that closer home ties may
bind them more strongly to their native
locality. Marriage is in as high esteem
with them as 1t was with their ancestors
in the days of the Roman republic, and
old bachelors are as freely held up to rid
icule and contempt.
Their houses are all modelled after the
same plan, a substantial and comfortable,
but plain cottage, built of cypress, with
thick plastered walls, large Oh small, ac-
cording to the necessities of its occupants,
and with a broad porch or galerie in front.
IL D-- ~
where it flows through the green Ope-
lousas," and the Bayou Tigre, many of
the Acadian homes are seen, each IN
powered in a clustering grove of live oak
or China trees. This portion of the state
is generally spoken of in Louisiana as the
''Teche country" and it is a little Curl
GUS to learn that the word "Teche" is a
Creole corruption of Deutsch, from a Ger
man colony which once settled on its
banks.-New Orleans Cor. San Francisco
Chronicle,